Parents find many daycares not using province’s online registry for child care spots

The province launched an online registry in 2011 to help parents place their kids in child care, but some parents said they’ve found out that many daycares aren’t using the registry. The province, meanwhile, says the system is working.

Amber Anderson said she signed up her daughter Jocelyn for 45 daycares on the province’s online registry. When nearing the end of her maternity leave, Anderson still hadn’t heard anything.

“I was getting really nervous,” she said.

She found a licenced daycare through online site Kijiji.

Anderson said that specific daycare told her it rarely uses the online registry. She also said other parents have told her they’ve found the same thing.

“I don’t know anybody who has had it work for them and I’m a member of many different moms’ groups around the city,” said Anderson.

“Being on the online registry isn’t the be-all-end-all,” said Pat Wege from the Manitoba Child Care Association.

The association said several daycares it surveyed stated they aren’t using the registry because they still have wait lists from before the online program launched.

“Many of the child care programs have paper registries that they have had for years and they’re going to those first,” said Wege.

The province, however, said the registry is valuable. Since the child care registry launched, 4,200 kids have been placed in daycare spots, said the province.

The province said using the online registry is not the only one way to find child care.

It said parents should also contact the daycare they want, in order to find out where they stand on the wait list.

Amber Anderson said she has a different strategy with her second child due to be born soon.

“We’ll be leaving our daughter in the daycare centre she’s in right now because we want to assure that this baby will also have a spot,” said Anderson.

She said it’s the only way she can guarantee her next child gets a space.

The Manitoba Child Care Association said that at the end of December, more than 9,000 names were registered through the online registry.

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The Manitoba Child Care Association said that at the end of December, more than 9,000 names were registered through the online registry. (file image)